Senior Diana-lynn Patterson tossed a four-hit shutout and drove in the go-ahead run in the fourth inning, as the Conquerors softball team moved a step closer in advancing to their first CIF-Southern Section championship game since 1975 with a 2-0 victory over host Ayala in a Division III quarterfinal Thursday.

Los Altos, which lost in the second round in each of the past three seasons before beating Oak Park earlier this week, improved to 23-6 and will host Tesoro, a 1-0 winner over Chino, in the semifinals Tuesday. Ayala, which had won 11 of its last 12 games, finished 23-10.

“I’m so proud of these girls,” Los Altos coach Lydell McCullough said. “For the last three years we’ve had this so-called curse (losing in the second round). To see these girls battle and play so well, they are so deserving of it.”

The key was Patterson, who proved herself at the plate and in the circle. The senior gave up just four hits and got key outs to get out of jams in the second, third and seventh innings.

“Whenever you can throw a shutout against a team like Ayala, that says something about (Patterson) as a player,” said McCullough. “She’s tremendous. It was her 78th career win. She’s nails. I just love her. She’s probably the best player ever at Los Altos.”

She also came through with the key hit in the fourth for the Conquerors, who got just two hits and struck out 10 times against Ayala’s Jessica Hall.

Courtney Gano, who had a big hit to lead Los Altos to a 4-3 victory over Sonora in the first round, started the inning with a walk before stealing second. Patterson followed with a single to center and Gano beat the throw home for a 1-0 lead.

“I just felt like I needed to come through and get a hit there,” Patterson said. “I drove (Gano) in. That was good. I felt pumped after that.”

Patterson took second on the play, which set up the Conquerors’ second run. Latisha Dedeaux followed with a single, with courtesy runner Tori Dominguez going to third. Vicky Contreras then hit a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

“We figured it probably would come down to one inning,” McCullough said. “We knew we wouldn’t get many opportunities, but when we do get some, we had to capitalize. That’s what we did – we capitalized on the opportunity we did get. And we won the game because of it.”

Ayala had two good chances in the second and third innings. But Patterson induced Natalie Martinez to fly out to center to end the second, and got Hall to ground out to end the third.

“We hit the ball, but sometimes it happens and you hit it where they’re at,” Ayala coach John Ameluxen said. “Defensively, they played very, very well. They took everything away from us. The big hit was missing, but when you hit it at people, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.”

Ayala had one last chance, getting a one-out double from Sarah Moore in the seventh. But Patterson got Stephanie Martinez to ground out and Natalie Martinez to fly out.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Patterson said. “We had one out and just needed to get the (second out). Once we did, I knew that we had it.”

Steve Ramirez writes about public safety issues including criminal justice and fires in Inland Southern California. He previously covered high schools, college football and motor sports for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune since 1989. He's a big fan of Buddy Holly and loves World War II movies.

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